On the Evolutionary State of the Components of the YLW 15 Binary System

Abstract

We report centimeter continuum observations with the VLA and the VLBA as well as mid-infrared observations with COMICS/SUBARU toward the components of the YLW 15 very young binary system, VLA 1 and VLA 2. The centimeter emission of the two components traces partially thick free-free emission, likely due to collimated, ionized winds. VLA 1 is an embedded protostar, undetected in the near-IR, and possibly in the Class 0 to Class I transition and powering a Herbig-Haro outflow. Its mid-IR emission appears slightly resolved with a diameter of ~16 AU, possibly tracing circumstellar material from both the envelope and the disk. VLA 2 is a typical Class I object, unresolved in the mid-IR, and is the responsible of the strong X-ray emission associated with YLW 15. The expected centimeter ''peri-stellar'' emission associated with the X-ray emission is not detected with the VLBA at 6 cm likely due to the high optical depth of the free-free emission. Strikingly, the near to mid-IR properties of YLW 15 suggest that VLA 1 is a more embedded YSO, or alternatively, less luminous than VLA 2, whereas orbital proper motions of this binary system indicate that VLA 1 is more massive than VLA 2. This result is apparently against the expected evolutionary scenario, where one expects that the more massive YSO in a binary system is the more evolved and luminous YSO. Finally, the nearby source YLW 16A is detected with the VLA, its position coincides with reported near-IR and X-ray sources.